Obama Scandals

Internal Government Emails Reveal Intentions for Contraceptive Mandate
Next Monday I will file an amicus brief in Zubik v. Burwell, the contraceptive mandate case that Ed Whelan has so thoroughly discussed in this space this week. My brief will criticize the Administration for adopting an irrelevant tax provision that exempts some entities from filing tax returns (26 U.S.C. § 6033) as the mechanism for determining which religious groups are exempt from the contraceptive mandate and which must beg the Department of Health and Human Services for an “accommodation.”

A New System for Determining Global Temperature
There are a number of organisations that produce estimates of global temperature from surface measurements. They include the UK Met Office Hadley Centre, the Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) and Berkeley Earth, but there are others.

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

CBO: ObamaCare repeal bill would reduce deficits by half a trillion dollars over 10 years
Plenty of Americans choose to reject ObamaCare to save themselves a boatload of money. Republicans in Congress believe the US budget should have that choice, and the CBO agrees with them that it would work, too. Their latest analysis of a bill that would repeal the major components of ObamaCare through the reconciliation process concludes that it would reduce federal deficit spending by $516 billion over the first ten years

Confessed ISIS Sympathizer Shoots Philly Police Officer; Mayor Says the Shooter Is Not ISIS
Early today, a Philadelphia police officer, Jesse Hartnett, was ambushed on a Philadelphia street. He was in his police cruiser when 30-year-old Edward Archer charged him and fired eleven (early reports said 13) shots, hitting Hartnett at three times in the arm. Hartnett was able to return fire, hitting his attacker three times. Both men are alive and in the hospital. The whole incident was captured on surveillance video.

Top US Admiral Fired For Questioning Obama Purchase Of Mansion In Dubai
A stunning new Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that one of the United States Navy’s top commanders was relieved of his command a few hours ago after he sent out an “email/posting” revealing that President Barack Obama was in the process of purchasing a multi-million dollar seaside luxury villa in the United Arab Emirates city (UAE) of Dubai.

What Are the Bundys Protesting?
We’re often told that in order to defeat the terrorists, we need to understand their grievances. So, not to defend an armed occupation of federal property (#OccupyNowheresville!), but to understand some of what might motivate the folks doing it, let’s take a look at the case they are protesting, and the broader issue of federal control and management of Western lands.

New Black Panthers with Guns, Lots of Them
I remember the good old days when President Obama and his Justice Department weren’t so worried about nasty racists and felons having guns. I remember when President Obama and his Justice Department refused to do anything about New Black Panthers with guns, even New Black Panthers with criminal records possessing firearms and others threatening to kill cops.

Candidate accused of faking signatures of Big Bird, dead people
A woman who tried to run for Denver City Council last year has been charged with 13 counts of forgery and perjury after submitting petitions filled out with signatures of Sesame Street characters, dead people and voters who told investigators they never signed her petition.

Food Stamps Ripped Off By Walmart-Shopping Bureaucrat
Missouri Department of Social Services eligibility specialist Pamela O’Dell faces criminal charges after she went on a shopping spree with $52,000 worth of food stamps she stole, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

New Hampshire Takes Important Steps to Curb Civil Asset Forfeiture Abuse
New Hampshire is not one of the worst jurisdictions when it comes to civil asset forfeiture – in fact, they are among the best. That having been said, the Republican-led New Hampshire House of Representatives has taken an important step that other states should follow. The House voted to approve a package of reforms, including most importantly a measure that prevented police departments from keeping assets they seize from citizens.

Gay actor takes role of gay character in controversial show
A producer for ABC’s new sitcom “The Real O’Neals” wanted a gay actor for the role of a teenager who comes out to his shocked Catholic family but was prevented by a law designed to protect gays and lesbians from asking those auditioning about their sexual orientation.

Economy & Taxes

Why Silicon Valley May Be At “DEFCON 1” Status
Over the last 5 years in “The Valley” (meaning everything representing tech and disrupting) there has been no other land of opportunity that lived, created, self defined, along with redefined its business metrics than the tech world. Unicorns, Non-GAAP, IPO’s, and more were the terms bandied or used to encapsulate what it was to be a “disrupter.”

International

Oz: Row over Navy’s Islamic account after Tony Abbott retweet
A navy Twitter account has been shut down after its most senior Muslim officer retweeted a counter-terrorism expert mocking Tony Abbott following the Liberal Party leadership coup and backed the Grand Mufti’s response to the Paris terrorist ­attacks.

Police in Norway proclaim “Oslo is lost”
Gronland is a district in Oslo, Norway, very close to Parliament. Per a Poqari News report, the area looks like “Karachi, Basra, and Mogadishu all rolled into one.” The situation has devolved to such a point that the police in Gronland have declared: “Oslo is lost.”

Vietnam probes mysterious “space balls”
Vietnams military is investigating the appearance of three mysterious metal balls — believed to be debris from space — which landed in the country’s remote north, a senior army official said Friday.

Military vows Maduro support in deepening Venezuela crisis
Venezuela’s military pledged loyalty to President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday, ramping up a high-stakes standoff between his socialist government and a center-right opposition that has vowed to use its new legislative powers to oust him.

What a Euthanasia Future Looks Like
Canada’s Supreme Court pushed the country into the euthanasia abyss with a radical ruling imposing doctor-administered death on the country. It gave the nation 1 year to pass laws governing the practice.

Opinion

How Liberals Are the New Autocrats
Progressives may preach the joys of localism, but the trend in government is all the other way in everything from climate change to the economic complexion of your neighborhood.

What Kids Should Actually Learn In Sex Ed
California”s new “comprehensive” sex ed will teach kids “affirmative consent,” which doesn’t at all answer the questions kids are asking or transmit crucial information.

The Iowa Corn Lobby is Following Ted Cruz Around Like a Bunch of Spoiled Children
Conventional wisdom says that you cannot win Iowa without kissing the pinky ring of the Iowa corn lobby and pledging your fealty to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the anti-science policy which is bad for the environment, fuel mileage, and America at large. Iowa’s traditional role as the first Presidential contest for both parties basically ensures that anyone with even a whiff of Presidential ambition has largely taken a pass at criticizing a policy which is a bad idea for everyone except an extremely well-connected group of corn farmer lobbyists.

The dangerous separation of the American upper middle class
The American upper middle class is separating, slowly but surely, from the rest of society. This separation is most obvious in terms of income—where the top fifth have been prospering while the majority lags behind. But the separation is not just economic. Gaps are growing on a whole range of dimensions, including family structure, education, lifestyle, and geography. Indeed, these dimensions of advantage appear to be clustering more tightly together, each thereby amplifying the effect of the other.

Brazil and Mitchell’s Theorem of Societal Collapse
I remember feeling like an outlier a few years ago when so many people were waxing rhapsodic about a glowing economic outlook for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. These so-called BRICS nations were enjoying some decent growth at the time, but I was not optimistic about their long-run prospects because they all suffered from too much statism according to the rankings from Economic Freedom of the World.

House of Saud about to collapse
The beheading of 47 political prisoners — terrorists — by the House of Saud may trigger a formal war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The ayatollahs in Iran want control of Mecca and Medina, which are now in Saudi hands. This is the heart of the Islamic War, although there are plenty of other issues and frontlines.

Why Is Marco Rubio Co-Sponsoring A Left Wing Bill That Strips College Students Of Their Rights?
Last year, left wing nut bar, Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill, offered one of those bills with an utterly Orwellian title that enables the left to cover their malicious acts with virtuous words. This bill was titled the Campus Accountability and Safety Act. The bill was a direct response to the whole “campus rape” hysteria that led to a pathological liar being able to make a career of accusing an innocent man of rape and the tarring of an entire university and fraternity system for condoning rape.

The subversive feminism of two Obama staffers’ Secret Service codenames
Secret Service code names tend toward the masculine, if for no other reason than the majority of people who need them are of the dude persuasion. President Obama is “Renegade.” President George W. Bush is “Trailblazer.” Even many women’s names, though typically far less aggressive, skew androgynous. For example, Michelle Obama is “Renaissance,” while Laura Bush is “Tempo.”

Clint Bolick for SCOTUS!
Terrific news out of Arizona today, where Governor Doug Ducey has announced his appointment of Clint Bolick to the state’s Supreme Court. How great an appointment is this? Well, the folks at the Center for American Progress are having a cow

Common SJW Phrases Translated into English
Have you ever looked at an SJW and wondered “just what is this idiot trying to tell me?” Or, have you perhaps contemplated the intellectual musings of a Tumblrista and wondered “what in the everlasting fuck is this person actually saying?”

I hate to break it to feminists, but “white male privilege” is a myth
How’s this for dark irony: throughout 2015, “white male privilege” was the buzzphrase on every rad tweeter and liberal hack’s lips, as they fumed against the easy, pampered lives allegedly enjoyed by human beings who had the fortune to be born with a penis and pale skin. Railing against “white men” and their cushy existences has become the stock-in-trade of many feminists.

Inside the Garden of Political Town Hall Plants
On Thursday, CNN will host a town hall with President Obama as part of his “final-year push to make gun control part of his legacy.” In addition to sitting down with liberal anchor Anderson Cooper, the network says Obama will “take questions from the audience.”

Feminist Tumblr Syndrome
Kylo Ren is the name of the villain in the latest Star Wars movie. You may wonder, “What does that have to do with feminism?” Honestly, I don’t know, but Lis is a feminist Tumblr blogger

LGBT Shirts Now Trump American Flag Shirts in Public Schools
It is becoming increasingly clear that constitutional rights only apply to some people in our country. The PC climate seems to be trumping that which is constitutionally right for all and instead, we’ve got judges replacing constitutional rights with cherry-picked cases that benefit a few.

Our Moral Superiors™
Liberal intellectuals are convinced that the rest of us are so stupid we need them to tell us what to think.

The Solution to Income Inequality is to Empower People
Income inequality is on the minds of journalists and political candidates. It’s on the lips of people who worry about social justice. I think income inequality is a symptom and solving for it won’t change anything. There are deeper problems that we can attack as a society which will do a lot for the symptom.

Burning Rousseau In Effigy
Despite strident denials there are large numbers of people who are Marxists without knowing they are Marxists. In fact, it is because they’ve never read Marx or studied economics that they’re not aware of how much of their world-view is Marxist. Well, that and because the Marxists took advantage of mass-media, mass-education and mass-entertainment to pound into their heads a uniform Marxist message that became what “Everybody knows.”

Aztecs Next Door? Freedom and Neighbors
What are the limits of certain rights? If we take the Declaration of Independence at face value, and accept that certain rights are granted by the fact of our existence as humans, including “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness,” how do we square government limitations on practices that are also protected?

Not Yours To Take
One of the toughest parts about freedom is that it necessarily means that you have to put up with things you do not like, or do without things you might prefer. For example, in Texas, they have very loose zoning laws, so that you can have a neighborhood of homes right next to an amusement park. Loud, bright lights, lots of traffic, but people are free to do that if they choose.

3 Responses to News of the Week (January 10th, 2016)

Interesting… but this is a “Vic morning news” level downer. I appreciate what you do, I like to stay informed, but honestly, I can’t bear to read many of the links, just the summaries. I don’t know how you guys do it. And I’m drinking vodka as I peruse this.

I see the word “micro inequalities” and I think “Oh, great, that’s going to be Diana Moon Glampers, in real life, despite the fact Harrison Bergeron was a satire and a warning”. I can’t bear to read it. We’ve been warned for decades by Vonnegut, Orwell, and Monty Python in popular, articulate warnings. And despite that, their caricatures have become reality.